Psychological Counseling AI

It is absolutely impossible at this stage, but it is already the most cost-effective supplementary role in the current psychological service system. It can fill in many gaps that real-person services cannot reach, and it can also help counselors save a lot of energy to focus on more valuable in-depth work.

A while ago, when I helped a university psychology center conduct an AI implementation test, I felt particularly deeply. In previous years, during the first semester of school and the job-hunting season after graduation, consultation appointments at the center can be scheduled three weeks later. In fact, many students only encounter mild problems such as pre-exam anxiety and lovelorn emotions. When waiting for the appointment, they either get over it on their own, or their emotions have been accumulated for a long time and have developed into more serious problems. Later, they used the AI ​​consultation system that was jointly calibrated with the top mental health centers in the country. They first screened and triaged the visitors: those with mild emotional distress first underwent three AI structured interviews, combined with self-help exercises of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). According to the final statistics, 62% of the users' symptoms were significantly relieved. The remaining users with suspected moderate to severe problems were referred to real counselors, which immediately improved the center's reception efficiency by more than 40%.

Having said this, I have to mention the differences in attitudes among practitioners of different schools, which is quite interesting. CBT counselors are generally very receptive to AI. After all, CBT itself has a large number of standardized cognitive correction processes and after-class exercises. AI is equivalent to a 24-hour online sparring partner. For example, if a user suddenly triggers obsessive thinking, he or she does not have to wait for an appointment with a counselor next week. He or she can immediately go through the guidance process of thinking dissociation with AI, which is much more efficient than looking for methods in an emotional manual. I know a senior counselor who has been doing CBT for 10 years and now regards AI as his "assistant". After each consultation, the AI ​​will automatically send corresponding exercises to the user based on the content of the interview. It will also organize the user's daily feedback into a streamlined briefing and send it to him, directly saving half of his desk work.

However, most counselors from the psychoanalytic and humanistic schools have reservations about AI, and many even explicitly oppose it. When I attended an industry salon last month, I was particularly impressed by what an old counselor who had been doing psychoanalysis for 20 years said: “The most healing thing in counseling is not the standardized techniques at all, but what comes out of the immediate collision of two real people. You said that when you mentioned your mother who died young, you suddenly paused for 3 seconds and your fingertips trembled. Can AI capture these micro-expressions and unspoken emotions? Can we dig down this unconscious gap? Not to mention the most critical aspects of transference and countertransference in consultation. These parts that cannot be quantified at all are the core of deep healing. ”There are also ethical researchers who have also mentioned real risks: the user privacy protection mechanisms of many AI products have not yet been fully implemented. Once the self-harm tendencies and extremely private traumatic experiences of visitors are leaked, the consequences will be disastrous. ； In an emergency where a user is at risk of suicide, there is no unified industry standard for whether AI can stabilize emotions and link offline crisis intervention resources in a timely manner like a real person.

Oh, by the way, I suffered from insomnia for a week straight while working on a project. My mood was so bad that I couldn't make an appointment with my own counselor. I also tried several mainstream psychological counseling AIs. After chatting for half an hour, it helped me figure it out. What made me irritated was not that there were too many projects at all, but that I was subconsciously afraid of being rejected by my boss if I didn’t do well. They also gave me a 5-minute mindful breathing guide. After doing it, the tightness in my chest was indeed relieved a lot. But you want me to talk to AI about the conflicts I had with my father when I was a child? I always feel that I can't speak out after a series of procedures. I still have to sit across from my counselor and look at her gentle eyes before I can safely express the emotions that have been hidden for many years.

The psychological counseling AIs on the market today are actually mixed in quality. Some of them are just a big model shell without any clinical data calibration. After a few words, they start saying correct nonsense like "You are already great, so keep up the good work." It is useless and annoying. However, there are also many products that have been clinically proven. For common mild problems such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia, the intervention efficiency has reached the level of a junior counselor who has just been in the industry for 2-3 years. This is especially true for sociophobic groups and teenagers who are unwilling to talk to their elders and teachers. Instead, they are willing to dig deep in the face of non-judgmental AI, which can provide more realistic background information for subsequent real-person consultations.

In fact, there is really no need to put AI and human consultants on opposite sides. Just like if you have a mild common cold, you can just buy compliant over-the-counter medicine and take it. If it is serious, you should go to the hospital to get a specialist number. Today's psychological counseling AI is more like a safe and convenient over-the-counter medicine, coupled with a 24-hour online health assistant. If you really encounter complex trauma and personality problems, you still have to find a professionally trained human counselor. Maybe in another ten years, AI will be able to accurately capture micro-expressions and emotional fluctuations in speech. What will the psychological services be like at that time? Who knows, but now I can fill in the blank scenes that can be covered, which has helped many people who can't get through the emotional barrier. This is enough.